Quick releasable buckle with belt length adjustments



F. L. DAVIS Dec. M, 1965 QUICK RELEASABLE BUCKLE WITH BELT LENGTHADJUSTMENTS Filed March 18, 1964 INVENTOR. FRANK L. DAV/5 BY M 'Aria/PAM) United States Patent 3,222,739 QUICK RELEASABLE BUCKLE WITHBELT LENGTH ADJUSTMENTS Frank L. Davis, 30 Mariners Lane, Northport,Long Island, N.Y. Filed Mar. 18, 1964, Ser. No. 352,857 Claims. (CI.2475) The invention herein disclosed relates to belt buckles and specialobjects of the invention are to provide a buckle which can be quicklyconnected and disconnected and which will have incorporated in it meansfor readily effecting belt length adjustments.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a buckle constructionincorporating such features, which will be very simple and inexpensivein construction.

Other desirable objects and the novel features of construction,combinations and arrangement of parts by which such objects areaccomplished are set forth and will appear in the course of thefollowing specification.

The drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification isillustrative of present practical embodiments of the invention butstructure may be modified and changed as regards the immediateillustration, all within the true intent and scope of the invention ashereinafter defined and claimed.

FIG. 1 in the drawing is a plan view of one of the buckles in thecoupled relation, with portions of the belt or webbing broken away.

FIG. 2 is a broken, sectional view of the parts appearing onsubstantially the plane of line 2-2 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the separated buckle parts.

FIG. 4 is a part sectional edge View illustrating separation andengagement of the buckle parts.

FIG. 5 is a broken plan view of a simpler, modified form of theinvention.

FIG. 6 is a broken sectional view on substantially the plane of line 6-6in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the separated buckle parts illustrated in FIGS.5 and 6.

The form of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 consists of two sheetmetal plates, 10 and 11, the first having a cross slot 12 for entry ofthe head 13 of the other part and each part having a snubbing ridge andthree slots for conforming a belt end over such ridge.

The first member, constituting in effect the keeper part of the buckle,is shown as cross corrugated in the form of a rounded ridge 14 havingthe shape of an inverted V, over which one belt end portion 15 is loopedat 16 after passage downward through an edge slot 17 and thence upwardthrough slot 12 at the far side of the ridge, and over the ridge andinward through slot 18 in the near side of the ridge and beneath asnubbing corner 19 and upward through slot 17, where the ultimate end ofthat belt strap overlies the main portion 15. Thus as appears in FIG. 2,the end portion will be firmly held snubbed about the ridge 14 and bythe snubbing shoulder 19 at the foot of the ridge, with the free end 20con veniently positioned for adjustment of the belt length by pulling totighten or to be slacked for increasing the belt length.

With this construction the cross slot 12 in the side of the ridge isutilized both for passage of the head on the other belt part and forpassage of the belt itself, and in this location that part of the beltextending through slot 12 forms a stop limiting the movement of the head13 in the unlocking or releasing direction.

The other, head forming member of the buckle has a similar beltadjustment construction in the form of an inverted-V ridge 21 over whicha loop 22 of the belt section 23 is extended through cross slots 24 and25 in the sides of the ridge, beneath a snubbing shoulder 26 andPatented Dec. 14, 1965 through slot 27 in the edge portion of thatplate, leaving a free end portion 28 exposed for length adjustment.

Except for the raised ridge 21 the head portion of the buckle may be aflat plate as shown, with the head part 13 connected with the body ofthe plate by a reduced neck portion 29 designed to fit in and belaterally retained in the reduced side extension 30 of the receivingslot 12.

For easy entry and release purposes, the side extension 30 for receivingthe neck 29 of the head part of the buckle is shown connected with thefull length part of the slot 12 by shouldered enlargement 31 slightlylonger than the head 13, through which the head may be directly passedin engaging and uncoupling the buckle parts.

The laterally extended neck receiving port 30 of the cross slot is shownas located in an inclined wall portion 32 of the plate 10, upon whichthe head will ride under tension on the belt, thus to become moresecurely locked in place.

A reversely angled shoulder 33 is shown left at the foot of the inclinedwall 32 to serve as a stop limiting movement and preventing accidentialrelease of the head through the widened portion 31 of the belt receivingslot 12.

The keeper part of the buckle, plate 10, is shown equipped with a handleportion 34, in the form of an extension of the inclined wall 32,overlying the head part, in the connected relation shown in FIGS. 1 and2, and constituting as such a cover or guard which may be lifted asoutlined in FIG. 4 to slide the head portion down the inclined wall 32and through the release slot 31.

With the buckle parts relatively inclined as in FIG. 4, it is easy toeffect the disconnection or engagement of the buckle parts, and at anytime, when tension on the belt is released, the free ends 20 and 28 ofthe belt may he slipped one way or the other to shorten or to lengthenthe belt.

The holding means illustrated enable infinite length adjustment and suchadjustments may be effected at either one or the other of the two beltparts or at both parts, possibly to even the ends of the belt.

These adjustment devices hold the belt or webbing firmly in any adjustedrelation and provide efficient securing means for the belt, easilyassembled and avoiding any need for stitching or other such fasteningheretofore employed.

While the buckle described is particularly simple and inexpensive, theconstruction may be further simplified and reduced in cost byeliminating the edge slots 17 and 27 in the two parts and the materialnecessary to provide these slots.

This simplified structure is shown in FIGS 5, 6 and 7 and involvesdeparture from the first described construction only in that the keeperand head parts 10 and 11 are shortened in length to the extent indicatedat 35, 36, FIG. 7, eliminating the edge slot portions 17 and 27appearing in FIG. 3.

Accordingly the same reference characters are employed in FIGS. 5, 6 and7 to designate corresponding parts.

The second form of the buckle particularly can be of very light weightand occupy small space adapting it for many uses where thesecharacteristics are important.

Also in this second form of the invention adjustments of the belt lengthmay be effected more readily, in some instances while the buckle iscoupled together, for, with tension on the belt released, the free ends20 and 28 may be readily slipped one way or the other and yet besecurely gripped and held with the belt under tension.

The first form shown, FIGS. 1 to 4, has the advantage that adjustmentsmade will usually be retained when the buckle is closed again because ofthe further grip on the 3 belt ends effected by extending these endportions through the additional edge slots 17 and 27, FIG. 2.

Because of the simple inexpensive construction, these buckles areadapted for many difl erent uses where webbing is used and there is aneed for adjusting the ends to be connected and for enabling quickcoupling and uncoupling of such ends.

In both constructions the loop of webbing 16 may operate as a cushionfor the end of the head 13, FIGS. 2 and 5, and the loop 22 about theridge 21 serve as a cushion stop for the handle 34, preventing loosenessand rattling.

What is claimed is:

1. A quick releasable buckle with belt length adjustments comprising thecombination of sheet metal plates,

one of said plates having a keeper slot and the other of said plateshaving a head to pass through said slot and be retained by a surface ofthe plate in which the slot is formed,

each of said plates having a cross ridge in the shape of an inverted V,with cross slots in the relatively inclined walls forming the ridges,

belt forming webbing extending through said cross slots and looped oversaid cross ridges,

said keeper slot in the one plate being a continuation of a cross slotin that plate whereby the loop of webbing about the cross ridge of theplate in which said slot is formed is disposed in opposition to the headof the other buckle plate to act as a stop limiting movement of saidhead in the releasing direction, and

the plate having the keeper slot having :a wall inclined with respect tothe adjacent portion of said V-shaped cross ridge and supporting saidhead in the engaged relation of the plates, said inclined wall having anaperture which forms an end surface of said continuation of said crossslot, said inclined wall having a handle extension projecting as a coverover the webbing holding ridged portion of said head-carrying plate.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which the webbing receivingends of the plates are extended and cross slots are formed in saidextended end portions through which the end portions of the webbing arepassed.

3. The invention according to claim 1 with a reversely inclined shoulderat the foot of said inclined wall serving as a stop limiting movement ofsaid head toward release position of said head through the keeper slot.

4. The invention according to claim 1 with said handle being engageablewith the webbing looped over the ridged portion of the head-carryingplate of the buckle.

5. A quick releasable buckle combination comprising companion plates ofsheet material engageable in overlying relation and having narrowtransverse belt web-receiving cross slots in the outer end portions ofthe same,

belt webbing looped through said slots,

one of said plates having an inclined abutment wall extending away fromthe slot therein, said slot having a lateral extension in the sidetoward said inclined wall of less than the full length of said crossslot and a narrow lateral extension of lesser length continued up intosaid inclined abutment wall as a further, reduced, lateral extension ofthe web slot,

stop shoulders at the foot of said inclined wall at opposite sides ofsaid lateral slot extension,

the companion plate having a narrow neck portion extending away from theweb slot therein, of substantially the width of said narrow slotextension and a head at the end of said neck portion of approximatelythe length of said first mentioned lateral slot extension and of greaterlength than said narrow slot extension so that said head may be passedup through said first lateral slot extension into engagement over saidinclined abutment wall and be stopped in that relation by said stopshoulders at the foot of that wall, and

a handle extension at the upper end of said abutment wall and supportedby said wall in position covering the web slot in said companion plate,and adapted to be lifted to slide the head of the other plate down overthe inclined wall and over said stops at the foot of the wall, thus torelease said plates from their overlying connected relation.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/4949 Bubser24-226 3/1963 Higuchi 2975 736,576 8/1903 Camp.

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

E. SIMONSEN, Examiner.

1. A QUICK RELEASABLE BUCKLE WITH BELT LENGTH ADJUSTMENTS COMPRISING THECOMBINATION OF SHEET METAL PLATES, ONE OF SAID PLATES HAVING A KEEPERSLOT AND THE OTHER OF SAID PLATES HAVING A HEAD TO PASS THROUGH SAIDSLOT AND BE RETAINED BY A SURFACE OF THE PLATE IN WHICH THE SLOT ISFORMED, EACH OF SAID PLATES HAVING A CROSS RIDGE IN THE SHAPE OF ANINVERTED V, WITH CROSS SLOTS IN THE RELATIVELY INCLINED WALLS FORMINGTHE RIDGES, BELT FORMING WEBBING EXTENDING THROUGH SAID CROSS SLOTS ANDLOOPED OVER SAID CROSS RIDGES, SAID KEEPER SLOT IN THE ONE PLATE BEING ACONTINUATION OF A CROSS SLOT IN THAT PLATE WHEREBY THE LOOP OF WEBBINGABOUT THE CROSS RIDGE OF THE PLATE IN WHICH SAID SLOT IS